Overview of Inside the Struggle to ‘Self-Deport’
This CNN One Thing episode examines the gap between U.S. immigration rhetoric and the reality of actually leaving. Reporter Maiva Bambuck follows a Venezuelan mother, Fernielis, who wants to return home after her partner is detained and deported—but discovers that “self-deportation” is far more complicated than the Trump administration makes it sound. The episode shows that even when migrants want to leave voluntarily, the paperwork, travel documents, and cross-border systems often don’t exist to make it easy.
Key Takeaways
- The Trump administration has pushed undocumented immigrants to “self-deport” using the CBP Home app and financial incentives.
- In practice, leaving the U.S. voluntarily can be nearly impossible without passports, visas, or government-created travel pathways.
- Fernielis’s decision to leave is driven by family separation, pregnancy, lack of English, and the collapse of her support system after her partner is deported.
- Her story exposes a major contradiction: both the U.S. and Venezuelan governments want people to move in a certain direction, but neither system is built to make that movement simple or humane.
- Even after choosing to leave, she is still monitored by U.S. authorities throughout the journey.
Fernielis’s Story
From asylum seekers to a family in New York
Fernielis arrived in the U.S. in 2024 with her partner and two sons after a long journey from Venezuela through Colombia and the Darién Gap. They used the then-Biden-era CBP One app to register and seek asylum.
After arriving in Texas, the family moved to New York. Her partner got temporary work authorization, found work driving trucks, and the family rented an apartment. Fernielis became pregnant again, and the couple saw their U.S. life as a fresh start.
Everything changes after Trump returns to office
After President Trump took office, the administration rolled back many Biden-era immigration policies, including CBP One and temporary protected status for many Venezuelans. ICE arrests rose sharply, including courthouse arrests.
At a routine immigration appointment in New York, Fernielis’s partner was arrested by ICE, detained in Louisiana, lost his asylum case, and was deported back to Venezuela.
Why she decided to leave
Once her partner was gone, Fernielis quickly realized she could not sustain life in the U.S. alone:
- She was pregnant
- She had two young children
- She did not speak English
- She had no job
- She had no partner or nearby support system
She decided it was no longer worth trying to stay and wanted to reunite with her family in Venezuela.
Why “Self-Deportation” Is So Hard
No documents, no flight
Fernielis wanted to leave by plane, but that required travel documents she didn’t have. Like many Venezuelans, she had no passport, and Venezuela did not yet have a practical system for issuing return documents.
Venezuela and the U.S. both wanted movement—but not a working system
The episode highlights a bureaucratic paradox:
- The U.S. wants asylum seekers to leave
- The Venezuelan government wants citizens to return
- But there is no fully functional system to make voluntary return straightforward
A lawyer in the story says the system is so broken that the easiest way to return can actually be to be detained by ICE, because government removal flights don’t require the person to have their own travel papers.
The “salvo conducto” workaround
After U.S.-Venezuela relations changed, Venezuela created an online process for a safe-conduct document, or salvo conducto, to allow citizens to return. Fernielis was eventually able to get this paperwork for herself and her children.
Her newborn son, Jefferson, complicated things further: he was born in the U.S., making him an American citizen. To take him to Venezuela, she also had to secure a Venezuelan visa for a U.S.-citizen infant—another document that didn’t exist until a workaround was found through a Venezuelan diplomatic office in Washington, D.C.
The Airport Journey Home
A tense departure
Bambuck accompanies the family as they finally leave New York for Venezuela, with a long layover in Miami.
At the airport, the family runs into repeated problems:
- Airline staff don’t recognize the Venezuelan safe-conduct paper
- TSA and gate staff need managers to verify the documents
- The family nearly misses connections because of delays
- ICE agents are visible at the airport
DHS keeps checking in
Even though she is doing exactly what the U.S. says it wants—leaving—the Department of Homeland Security continues to monitor her through the CBP Home app, calling and texting her to confirm her location and progress. The fear is that failing to respond could result in ICE showing up.
The emotional core
Fernielis is exhausted but determined. Her older son says he will miss his friends and the internet; she says she is most looking forward to hugging her mother and being cared for herself for once.
The episode ends with the family successfully boarding and arriving in Venezuela after 11 months of trying to navigate the system.
Broader Meaning
- The episode argues that “self-deportation” is not really a simple choice.
- For many migrants, voluntary return is blocked by paperwork, surveillance, and the absence of a real administrative pathway.
- Fernielis’s story illustrates how immigration policy can trap people between two countries, even when they want to go home.
- It also shows how family separation, bureaucracy, and enforcement pressure can turn migration into a long, stressful, and highly controlled ordeal.
Final Note
The report closes by noting that Fernielis and her family were reunited in Venezuela, where her partner had already found work and she hopes to eventually open a clothing shop. CNN says video of the full journey and reunion is available online.